


What Remains Of Dib Membrane

by PaleNoFace



Series: Smeet Army AU [15]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Confused Dib (Invader Zim), Dib Being an Asshole (Invader Zim), Head Injury, M/M, Older Dib (Invader Zim), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Dib (Invader Zim), Parent Zim (Invader Zim), Swearing, Tall Zim (Invader Zim), Temporary Amnesia, Tired Zim (Invader Zim), no beta we flirt with death like skoodge, so much swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 09:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleNoFace/pseuds/PaleNoFace
Summary: "Our generator blew up, and you stepped in the way to protect-- Fuck, he would have regenerated, you absolute fool ! Why does this keep happening ?!"A huff, and it's watery and a little heartbreaking. (Dib tries not to dwell on it, and fails miserably.)"You need to STOP doing that. You always end up hurt and I-" It says accusingly, before taking a deep, defeated breath. "Fuck. You don't even know what Zim is talking about, do you ?""...Are you Zim ?"
Relationships: Dib & Gaz (Invader Zim), Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib (Invader Zim) & Original Character(s), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Gaz & Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Smeet Army AU [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1658659
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	What Remains Of Dib Membrane

**Author's Note:**

> ***struts in late with off-brand starbucks, seemingly unaware of the apocalypse going on in the background* y'all would not believe the week i've had.**
> 
> I have no cue where I'm going with this one. I mean I have a vague plot and a confused idea of how it ends, so there's that ? It's gonna be a three, max four chapters work. Maybe. Idk time is weird and reality is subjective, wish me luck.

When Dib wakes up, the first thought to hit him is that everything hurts. The second one is that he doesn't know where he is. The third, and probably scariest one, is that he can't remember how he got in a scary-looking purple room, with way too many things hanging from the ceiling and blury screens covering an entire wall.

_Ah, fuck._

He groans and his head swims for a moment, the world around unfocusing with each heartbeat. He sits up (what kind of chair even _is_ that ?) and tries his best not to throw up. Then, through his beating pulse almost deafening him, he hears a door whooshing open somewhere behind him.

"Dib ?" someone calls, and it chills him to the bone that he doesn't recognize the shrill voice. "Oh, good, you're awake."

"Where am I ?" he croaks, eyes unable to focus on the newcomer.

"Med room," the person says, and he feels a hand push his shoulder back against the seat's backrest. "Don't get up, stupid ! Your skull might be fixed but your meat-brain still needs to heal. No moving for at least three days, doctor's orders. ...Hah, doctor ! I'm _hilarious_."

"What..?" Dib says, dumbly.

"Just take it easy. Lay down. Gaz got the smeets, everything's fine."

That makes Dib frown.

"What ?" He repeats, and blinks when a green something shifts into his line of sight.

The figure steps closer, and he realizes that he doesn't have his glasses, and that there is something deeply wrong with his left eye.

"What the fuck is going on ?" he rasps. "Where are my glasses ?"

"Yeaaaah, about that... They kinda got smashed in the panic. Artie is looking for your spares. Until then, you'll need to stick to the goggles."

Something is pushed into his hand, heavy, green and metallic, with an elastic band in the back. Carefully, he puts the goggles on. While he still has a giant blind spot on his entire left side, the room comes into focus, and so does his interlocutor.

He immediately tries to scramble out of reach.

"HOLY SHIT WHAT ARE YOU."

The... thing, for a lack of better word, shrinks in surprise at his shout, eyes wide and fucking red, antennae flat on a vaguely humanoid skull. Dib grabs the first weapon he finds, that just so happens to be a tiny scalpel.

"Don't come any closer," he warns when it steps in his direction.

"Uh, _what_ ? Dib, what's gotten into you ?" the green thing says, sounding careful, maybe even a little frightened.

"You're... You're an alien," Dib whispers, hand shaking around his makeshift weapon at the realization. "Holy shit. Who are you ? How do you know my name ? How do you know my sister's name ? Where the fuck am I ? What's wrong with my face ? Why can't I remember anything ? Did you erase my memory ? Is this an abduction ? Oh my god, did you steal my organs or something ?!"

The alien stares at him, at a loss, arms wide open and hands raised in a show of non-aggression, but something painful crosses its expression.

"What are you _saying_ ?" it hisses. "What do you mean you can't remember anything ? I- You- Come on, this isn't funny. You know who I am."

"I have no idea who you are," he all but spits, then louder when the other steps closer. "Stay away from me or I'll stab you ! Don't try me !"

The alien lets out a plaintive whine but stays at good distance. Dib readjusts his grip on the scalpel and licks his dried lips.

"How about you start talking, uh ?"

"How about YOU start talking !" the other shoots right back. "What on Irk do you mean, you can't remember anything ?! You have to remember _something_ ! Like, like- What year do you think it is ?"

Dib, against all logic, thinks about it.

"...2008," he deadpans confidently, while being absolutely certain he is wrong.

The alien makes another weird sound, strangled and distressed, like it just got kicked in the gut or something. It stumbles back against a computer desk and grips at its face.

"NO. No, _no no no_ , this is NOT happening. This CAN'T be happening. If this is some kind of joke I swear I will rip your kidneys out and switch them up. I mean it this time, don't think I won't."

While it's worded like a threat, it definitely sounds like a plea. A desperate plea.

"I'm not joking," he states, uncertain how to deal with this alien having a crisis over his evident lack of memories. "Look, I don't- What even is happening ? How did I-- I mean we get in this situation ?"

The other sniffs quietly and slides against the desk to seat on the ground, one hand tugging viciously at an antenna.

"Our generator blew up, and you stepped in the way to protect-- Fuck, he would have regenerated, you absolute fool ! Why does this keep happening ?!"

A huff, and it's watery and a little heartbreaking. (Dib tries not to dwell on it, and fails miserably.)

"You need to STOP doing that. You always end up hurt and I-" It says accusingly, before taking a deep, defeated breath. " _Fuck_. You don't even know what Zim is talking about, do you ?"

"...Are you Zim ?"

The alien nods slowly, and with a deep sigh seems resigned to do the introductions.

"That I am. Zim M- Zim the Irken." Dib waits for more. The alien rubs at its eyes, chews on its lip. It looks in pain. It carries on nonetheless with the exposition, to Dib's relative relief. "Formerly Invader sent to Earth to... whatever it was that they told me at the time. It doesn't matter anymore. You stopped me, numerous times. We saved each-other, enough to lose count. We became friends."

"Wait, it makes no sense," Dib says. "I fraternized with an alien ?"

The ali- _Zim_ snorts derisively from the ground.

"You sure did."

"That doesn't sound like me at all," Dib replies, doubtful.

"Oh, trust me, it took you some heavy character development to get there." Zim shakes its (his ?) head, as if to clear his mind. "Me, too."

He stands up, dusts his pink sweatshirt. His hands are shaking.

"2008, you said ? That's... So, what, you think you're eleven ?"

"No, I'm..." Dib frowns for a minute, trying to formulate properly what he's feeling. "I'm much older than that, I think. I just don't _know_. ...You know ?"

"Yeah, no shit," Zim sighs again before turning to the computer. "You're twenty-eight, Dib-stink."

Dib almost chokes on his saliva.

"What the fuck ?"

The alien doesn't answer, instead starts typing fast on the closest keyboard, documents and files playing hide-and-seek on the screens.

"Computer !" Zim calls very loudly, making Dib jump in his seat and almost drop the scalpel. "Let Gaz know there has been... complications."

" **On it** ," a robotic voice answers, and Dib startles again.

Another screen lights up on the side, showing Gaz' face, and it hits Dib that Zim isn't lying about his age - his sister is an adult, ears full of piercings, hair chopped short and frown set deeper than ever, but it's undoubtedly her.

"Gaz ?" Dib hears himself calling faintly.

"If this is your way of telling me not to let the goblins downstairs because you're about to jump his bones-" she starts, but Zim lets out a high-pitched scream that cuts her immediately. "...Dude, that was uncalled for."

"We have a problem," the alien states, his cheeks having turned an interesting shade of dark green. "Dib seems to have amnesia."

The silence that fills the room is heavy, bordering on unbearable, but then Gaz breaks the tension by laughing.

Dib doesn't think he ever head her laugh like that.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, _what the fuuuuck_ ," he whispers to himself when Gaz doesn't seem to calm down, doing instead her best impression of a hysterical hyena.

Zim rubs his hand all over his face.

"Glad to hear at least one of us finds this situation funny," he barks.

Gaz wheezes, and a little green head pops up near the couch in the background, teal eyes crinkled in worry.

"Uuuuh. You okay ?" the newcomer says, and Gaz waves a reassuring hand at them until they disappear again.

"Oh boy," she chuckles. "He really did it all, uh ?"

Zim shifts uneasily on his feet.

"What do we do ?"

"Have you tried hitting him on the head ?" she says, only half-serious. "Turn it off and on again. On TV it's usually how it works."

"This isn't one of your TV shows, Gazlene !" the alien screeches, claws (!!!) digging into the desk with a horrid metallic noise. "He didn't even remember Zim's name !"

That stops Gaz in her tracks.

"...Oh. Oh, fuck. This is bad, actually."

"Gaz, _please_ ," Zim insists. "We need to fix him."

"Please, keep talking like I'm not here, I don't mind at all," Dib grunts from his seat, but only earns two annoyed glares.

"Give me a minute, I'll be right there," Gaz decides, and turns off her end of the communication.

"Don't let GIR babysit-! Aw, hell, there she goes," Zim mutters to himself, before shutting down the screens and turning back to Dib. "Your sister is... a handful."

"I'd say," Dib drawls, and makes a point of putting the scalpel back where he took it.

Zim marginally relaxes after that.

"There was another one," Dib comments quietly after a moment.

"Uh ?"

"One like you. An alien."

"Oh, yeah. That, uh, that was Artie."

"He's... the one looking for my spare glasses, right ?"

"Yes."

A long silence that only seems to stretch. Dib coughs.

"So I get you're... not a bad guy...?"

Zim makes a weird face, half-way between a sneer and a laugh. It makes him look like he's about to sneeze.

"Haven't been called that in a long time."

Somewhere behind the closed door, something metallic and heavy bangs against the ground, followed by fast footsteps, and before long Gaz is slamming the sliding door open. Zim doesn't even jump at the loud noise, eyes lost in the empty space between the three of them.

"Dib, you suck," Gaz announces the moment she steps into the room. "I hope you know that."

"Considering I can't remember crap, no, not really," Dib snaps back, crossing his arms defensively on his chest. "But thanks for the update, I guess. At least I know who _you_ are."

Gaz glares sternly at him - which is kinda scary, considering her frown still very much in place on her face. She passes next to Zim and compassionately squeezes his shoulder on her way to the computer. Weird. The alien only grunts defeatedly at that.

"I still think we could just bash his head in or something," she grumbles under her breath, but just loud enough to be sure Dib hears her.

"I veto that !" he screeches immediately, and Zim makes wild negative gestures, clearly not entertaining the idea either.

Gaz huffs and keeps rummaging through the computer's files.

"Maybe we could tweak the Nightmare Dimension Portal to go into his memories instead of the, y'know, actual Nightmare Dimension ?" the alien suggests.

"Nuh-uh, no way," Gaz replies in a tone that refuses any rebuttal. "Considering what happened last time, it's better if whatever hides in my brother's head stays in there."

"Nightmare Dimension ?" Dib hears himself echo faintly, and Zim side-eyes him, a _I'll tell you later_ look on his face.

"We could PAK him ?" Gaz says, but her tone doesn't sound all that assured.

"Right, and whose PAK do you intend to use, pray tell ?" Zim snarls. "Because we don't exactly have spare ones just laying around."

"Nevermind," Gaz sighs, and pushes his grimacing face away from her. "This is why he should be PAKed in the first place, anyway, I keep telling you."

"We are NOT having this discussion again," the other replies with a note of finality in his tone.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say, you dumb fucking horse," she sighs, before whooping unexpectedly and opening what looks like a video file. "Here we go."

"What are you- Oh. OH, that's smart," Zim comments, crowding closer to her, effectively masking the video from Dib's view.

"Hey !" he calls, because he feels a little forgotten in his seat. "What are you two doing ?"

Gaz pulls away from the keyboard, rolling her shoulders like she is suddenly exhausted. She vaguely waves at the screen and at the alien glued to it, and says :

"You saved a bunch of old videos and archived files on the computer. Maybe it'll help trigger your memory back into place. Most of it are cryptid hunt tapes. Some are best off of my streams, for some reason, and probably some dumb science experiments you did, too. I never dived into it because who knows what you two creeps have been up to- and don't give me that look, I'm ninety-five percent certain there is at least one video of you vivisecting Zim in there."

Dib drops the finger he was rising and closes his mouth on the protest he was about to voice. That... does sound like something he would do.

"I can't confirm nor deny that," Zim comments off-handedly as he tweaks the settings to put the footage in full-screen.

"See ?" Gaz huffs, annoyed, before stalking back to the door. "I'm going back upstairs."

"Fuck, Gaz, _wait_ ," Zim calls before frantically finishing his task, rushing by her side. "Dib-thing, start watching, I'll be right back."

The door closes on the two of them, and Dib finds himself alone again.

Fuck. Fuuuuck. Everything is so... _Urgh_. He wants to go to sleep and wake up knowing everything. Or at least without his head killing him, yeah, that would be a good start. But even that is too much to ask apparently.

He doesn't click on the video. Instead, he keeps quiet, trying to catch anything that's being said behind the closed door. He doesn't hear much, only that Zim says something, sounding unhappy and frustrated, and whatever Gaz replies is too quiet for him to catch.

This is so weird. He feels so weird. In any given situation, purely on instinct, he wouldn't even have thought twice before ramming the scalpel into the alien. But he didn't, and this, more than anything, more than Gaz actually being here and civil with Zim, convinces him that the alien is telling the truth.

Or he managed to manipulate her too, but... Meh. Gaz is pretty much incorruptible on that front.

Before long Zim comes back in, looking decisively more calm but still very tense. He stomps all the way to Dib's side, glares at him up and down, and sighs in defeat before settling by the foot of the chair.

"You didn't start watching," he says.

Dib doesn't reply, decides instead to comment on the way the alien seem unable not to gravitate so close to him.

"Okay, this is going to be awkward, but I need to know. Are we close ?"

Zim shrugs, and it's not half as nonchalant as he seems to think. He is stressed, as far as Dib can tell. Stressed, and confused, and sad. But mostly stressed.

"Of course we are."

"But how close ?" Dib insists, anticipation bubbling in his gut.

Zim gives him a strange look.

"Very."

"Thanks," he rolls his eyes at that -his single eye, for fuck's sake, he can feel the hollow- because it does not help. "But like. Are we..." He's not blushing, he's not blushing, he's NOT blushing. "Y'know. Intimate ?"

The alien snorts loudly, simultaneously looking deeply unamused and relishing Dib's embarrassment.

"And _that_ is an euphemism if Zim ever heard one. But yes, we are."

"Makes sense," Dib squeaks, his face burning.

"Just start the video, Dib-thing."

Dib does as he's told.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave kudos & comments, it feeds the author's determination !


End file.
